1. Employer training in Australia: Building current and future skills in the workplace context
Erica Smith, Jackie Tuck and Andy Smith
Federation University Australia
Victor Callan, University of Queensland
AVETRA conference 2017

2. The project: Employer training in Australia: Continuity and Change
Funded by National Centre for Vocational Education Research
Research Questions:
Why do employers train their workers and what factors affect the extent of training?
What are the choices that employers make about training methods and sources of training?
What is the nature of training partnerships between employers and registered training organisations? What factors create and sustain these partnerships?
What are the key changes in employer training and in partnerships with RTOs, over the past 20 years? (Using base data from three different projects by the researchers)

3. Research method: 2015 Employer survey component
Whole project
Two online surveys, one of employers (n=173) and of RTOs (n=107);
Semi-structured interviews with 9 employers and 9 RTOs who were in partnership with each other;
Reference group of 12 representatives of key stakeholder groups and recommended experts in the area.
Employer survey component
Employer sample obtained through professional survey company. Answered by person responsible for training function.
National, and stratified by employer size to allow comparison with earlier project.
Micro (1-49): 29%
Small (50-99): 10%
Medium ( ): 26%
Large (500+): 25%
Questions mainly based on Smith et al survey 2003, published 2005

4. Respondents Industry area Number Per cent 1. Primary (includes mining)
Industry area
Number
Per cent 1.
Primary (includes mining) 8
5.0 2.
Financial services 12
7.5 3.
Other services (includes hospitality) 16
10.0 4.
Communications & IT 5.
Transport and distribution 4
2.5 6.
Sales (wholesale and retail) 20
12.5 7.
Manufacturing 14
8.8 8.
Government/community/public utilities 33
20.6 9.
Construction and civil engineering 13
8.1
10.
Health
11.
Consultancy 5
3.1
12.
Education
Total
160
100.0

5. Why do employers train?
A desire to improve the quality of their goods and services;
The need to comply with industry or licensing requirements and regulations, particularly those relating to workplace health and safety;
The introduction of new technology;
Supporting business strategies;
Benefits derived from enhanced performance, productivity and profitability — value-adding for the organisation and for staff retention.

6. Changes in their operating environment, according to employers (previous five years)
Use of technology in the industry
Skill needs of the industry
Skill needs of the organisation
Intensity of the competitive environment for the organisation
Increased rapidly
23.2%
17.2%
17.8%
28.2%
Increased steadily
62.2%
57.1%
60.7%
45.4%
Undergone no real change
14.0%
24.5%
20.2%
Declined
0.6%
1.2%
1.8%
Total
100.0%

8. Training structures and practices
Had their provision of training increased over the past five years?
15.3% said yes, greatly
40.5% said yes, somewhat, and
35% said it had remained about the same.
Medium-sized companies ( ) were most likely to report a great increase in training and small employers (50-99) were most likely to report only a moderate increase in training. Micro employers (1-49) were most likely to say it had remained the same.
50.6% had a dedicated training department or section, the likelihood increasing with employer size.

9. Training structures
Processes to plan and evaluate training
Common
Workplace trainers/instructors %
Evaluation of workers’ satisfaction with training events 58.9%
Company training manuals %
Formal development plans for staff 54.4%
Written training strategy 53.2%
Evaluation of workers’ learning outcomes 52.2%
Reimbursement of course fees %
Evaluation of impact for the organisation 49.7%
Training manager 51.9%
Training based on systematic needs analyses 47.5%
Training budget 51.6%
Less
In-house online learning system %
Evaluation of workers’ changed behaviour after training 44.9%
common
Purchased online learning system 34.6%
Training committee 28.3%

10. What types of employers use nationally recognised training (NRT)?
48.4% had used NRT for existing workers in the current and previous calendar year
Those which used NRT were likely to:
Have multiple sites;
Have a diverse employment structure;
Be affected by regulation and licensing;
Be expanding their operations;
Be in industries where technology use is increasing rapidly.

11. Why do employers seek nationally recognised training?
Outcome reasons
Allows systematisation across sites;
Offers quality assurance;
Provides upskilling and career development;
Allows for multi-skilling for expansion.
Process reasons
The (varying) availability of public funding, which particularly influences whether firms engage in skill sets or full qualifications;
The quality and flexibility of training providers;
The availability of reliable information relating to the training market.

12. Industry areas using NRT (from interviews)

14. Stated potential benefits of external providers
Most commonly reported
Commonly reported
Opportunity for employees to have wider viewpoint,
Providers’ content expertise and providers’ training expertise.
Of this group of reasons, gaining a wider viewpoint had more ‘great deal of benefit’ responses.
Availability of a range of qualifications,
Useful when only one or a few people require training,
More resource-efficient than providing in-house.
Of this group of reasons, the availability of a range of qualifications had more ‘great deal of benefit’ responses.

15. Use of, and satisfaction (‘satisfied’ or ‘highly satisfied’) with, external providers of training
Type of provider
Use?
Satisfied?
Private training providers (not necessarily RTOs)
73%
80%
Equipment/product suppliers
63%
79%
Employer/industry/prof. assns
61%
84%
Universities
47%
82%
TAFE
46%
66%

16. VET teachers as the VET system navigator

17. Informal training and learning
How important was this compared with formal training, as part of total training effort?
28% of firms said it was more important than formal training
55% said it was equally important
What types of informal training were used ‘sometimes’ or a ‘great deal’?
Supervision to guide employees 65%
Structured job rotation system 60%
Mentors or buddies 59%
Structuring work from simple to complex tasks 58%
Learning through watching others 58%
Regular meetings of employee groups including learning components 53%
Development for supervisors in use of informal training 50%

18. Two commonly mentioned jobs Methods of informal training
Administration
Mentoring
Just trained by another staff member
Buddy system/observation and repeat
Promotional opportunities/acting in other capacities
Tutorial
Call centre operator
Courses and in house
Trained by senior staff members
Initial six-week induction, on-the-job training and coaching, online modules and knowledge system
On-the-job training
Reading on Wikipedia
Seminar
Side-by-side coaching with a manager

19. What were the barriers to more training?
60% of respondents said that they would have liked to have provided more training over the previous 12 months than they did.
When asked to select the one most important reason from a provided list, the following were the key reasons:
Insufficient money: 38.0%
Employees are generally too busy to be trained: 19.0%
Managers do not have time to organise training: 13.9%.

20. More information?
Report and Good Practice Guide are on NCVER web site:
Contact Erica Smith
The three earlier reports:
Enterprise training: The factors that affect demand (Smith, A., Hayton et al. 1995)
Working together: Industry and VET provider training partnerships (Callan, V. & Ashworth 2004)
Enterprises’ commitment to nationally recognised training for existing workers (Smith, E. Pickersgill et al. 2005).